Children planting in Kunau
Trees are crucial to life, providing shade, oxygen and fruit. Their roots prevent erosion of soil, while also helping to prevent landslides. Their leaves release 90% of their water into the air, adding crucial levels of humidity to the environment. Yet, to meet the needs of rapidly expanding populations, far too many have been cut down, robbing the Ganga River Basin of its key benefactor.
What GAP is Doing
GAP is working to plant and maintain thousands of trees and other plants as a direct response to help rejuvenate the environment, mitigate erosion, arrest deforestation and global warming, and create a virtual “oxygen bank” to improve and restore the air quality.
Aman Ekta Hariyali Yatra: Inspiring Tree Plantations Across the Country
During the 2019 monsoon season, Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, Founder of the Ganga Action Parivar and Co-Founder of the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, and Maulana Mahmood Madaniji, Secretary General of Jamiat Ulema-I-Hind (JUH), came together on the historic interfaith Aman Ekta Hariyali Yatra, travelling across the country and inspiring thousands of people to combat climate change and water scarcity by planting trees.
The yatra wound its way from Rishikesh, through Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh with stops in Haridwar, Saharanpur, Muzzafarnagar, Deoband and Shamli, all the way to Gujarat and Ahmedabad! The Yatra included visits to temples, mosques, madrasas, schools, stations, hospitals and other public places, and planted over 6,000 trees along the way!
Through this yatra, the faith leaders emphasized that trees are the key to reverse the devastating effects of climate change. The essential message of this interfaith yatra is to inspire mass tree plantation, and to prevent and stop the utilization of single-use plastic while working together to conserve water through rainwater harvesting, treatment of wastewater and conservation of established water resources.
Click here and here to learn more about this historic yatra!
My Tree: Tree Plantation Program in Schools
Tree planting is a fun and interactive way for children to connect directly with Nature. Through our My Tree Programme, school children will learn steps for building healthy fertile soil as well as techniques for planting and caring for a wide range of fruit and nut bearing trees.
Many of the trees selected will be fast to bear fruits and nuts, to ensure that each child will have the full experience of planting, nurturing and harvesting from their tree. Children will watch as their tree blossoms and bears fruit, as a result of their labor and love.
Planting a tree is a literal symbol of how action in the present can effect change for the future. After having had their experience with their fruit trees, the children, their families and the entire community will know with certainty, their actions now can lead to a brighter, healthier tomorrow for generations to come. Once this consciousness is awakened, they will be able to make decisions and take actions to meet the immediate needs and as well as the future needs of society.
Through the My Tree Programme, children will similarly be shown that they can effect change for the better for both themselves and their community. Once students are empowered in this way, it opens countless opportunities of how they can learn to contribute to the over-all health and wealth of their villages.
Join us today! Sponsor a fruit tree, which will be planted by a deserving child. Email ganga@gangaaction.org.